Most of the time, when Mummas hear about a baby being in breech position, an immediate assumption is that the delivery needs to be a caesarean. Not so for Evangeline Er, aged 30. Young Mumma to four kids, ranging from 8 year old Solomon to 1 month old Elliot (with 6 year old Alanna and 4 year old Dominic in between!). When told by her doctor that Solomon was then-breech, Evangeline chose to continue with a plan to deliver naturally.
This is certainly not the most common response, but then again, perhaps unsurprising coming from someone who went to the gym to do weights, ran 5 times a week and ate sashimi throughout all four pregnancies!
We spoke to her to find out her breech birth story and the mumma mumtras that kept her going.
So, you’ve had a breech natural birth experience! Tell us what that was all about.
Yes! I had a breech natural delivery for my first birth. Throughout my whole pregnancy, there were no issues at all. It was a very uneventful, normal pregnancy. I knew all along that I wanted a vaginal delivery without an epidural. Then when I hit 32 weeks, my gynaecologist told me that my baby had not yet turned his head down as expected.
We were not overly concerned as I had there was still time for him to turn. I had a good amount of amniotic fluid and baby was on the smaller side because I’m small sized myself. But as the weeks went by, he remained stubbornly in a breech position. At around 35 weeks, my gynaecologist sat my husband and I down to explain to us the risk of a vaginal breech delivery. While she supported a natural birth, there were some ‘requirements’ to be fulfilled and we had to be aware of the risk it carries.
- Baby cannot be more than 3kg
- Baby cannot be overdue
- I must go into labour naturally
- My gynae cannot assist in delivering baby through the use of vacuum or forceps
- Once baby’s body is out, I would have a four min window to push him out completely, or else we might lose the baby and nothing else could be done to help.
- A breech delivery is four times more dangerous than a regular vaginal delivery
Ok, that’s a lot to take in! How did you feel at that moment?
You can imagine my horror. There were a thousand ‘what ifs’ going on in my head and had countless sleepless nights and an emotional breakdown from hearing what my Gynae told me. Hubby and I had long conversations about what we should do, should I just opt for a caesarean section and be done with it even though deep inside of me I wanted to deliver vaginally.
Was I selfish to insist on delivering vaginally and putting my son’s life at risk, I wondered. At the same time, I knew that if I were to do a caesarean section done that would immediately restrict the number of kids I might have in the future.
Was there anything that you tried to do to turn baby around naturally in the lead up to the birth?
I was really desperately trying to turn baby by googling all possible methods! I tried to invert myself, did squats, bounced on a yoga ball. I even started seeing a chiropractor to help adjust my hips to make space for baby to turn. Nothing worked.
At my 36th week, my gynae attempted to do an External Cephalic Version (ECV). It was a rather uncomfortable experience, but my gynae only managed to turn the baby about 90 degrees. She explained to me that this might encourage baby to turn his head down naturally. But the moment I stood up, I felt him pop his head back up again. And that was when we all felt that Solomon would have his way and was not going to turn his head down any time soon.
Was that when you decided that you would go ahead with the vaginal birth?
Yes, we were mentally ready to go ahead with that, to avoid a caesarean section unless it became medically necessary during labour.
At Week 39 and 3 days, I woke up at 7.30am in the morning and had the ‘bloody show’. I wasn’t feeling any pain or discomfort but I could feel light contractions. Since I was feeling fine, my husband and I decided to go ahead for a hearty breakfast (prata!) before heading to the hospital. When we arrived at the hospital at around 1030am and I was only 1.5cm dilated.
But thankfully, I was advancing faster than the nurses expected. When the waves of contractions got too intense, I relied on Laughing Gas (Nitrous Oxide) to manage the sensations. At around 3pm, I went from being 6cm dilated to being fully dilated and started pushing. My gynae managed to get to me in time to help guide me and calm me down. She could not help me hold or pull baby out at all.
To our relief, Solomon came out in three pushes, and the ‘nightmare’ was over. I had forgotten that my baby was in a breech position, forgotten the contraction pains, and all I saw was my perfect little baby.
What an amazing experience! And we’re so happy for you that all is well. Is there something that you’d like to tell other Mummas that you wish you knew before you became one?
I’d tell them at that all the sleepless nights won’t matter. Because children grow up so fast! So, hug them more, kiss them more, smell them more and live in the moment with them. No bad days ever last.
Mums will worry about EVERYTHING, only to realise that as long as your child is happy that’s all that matters. And sometimes you might feel like you are not yourself, and that is okay to feel out of place or to feel weird about yourself.
Just remember that you’re not alone and look for some kind of support, any kind that you can get to.